1. Media and Ideology
COMM 100
Furness

2. ©SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012
Overview
Ideological criticism in media studies
Hegemony
Dominant ideologies present in media contents
The case of
News media
Rap music
Popular TV
Advertising and consumer culture
Key Questions:
Why are those who examine the “ideology” of mass media generally wary of inquiry about the “reality” of media images?
What are the dominant ideologies behind media contents?
What does it mean that advertising created consumer culture?

3. Ideological Analysis in Media
©SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012
Ideological Analysis in Media
Ideology
“A system of meaning that helps define and explain the world and that makes value judgments about that world”
Ideological analysis
Study of media images sent about the nature of the world, how it operates, and how it should be
Media images do not simply reflect the world: they “re-present” (construct) the world

4. Ideology as Normalization
Ideology defines what is being “normal” in society
Dominant ideologies
Taken-for-granted, rarely questioned ideologies
Democracy, capitalism, Christianity, etc.
Media has the tendency to display a narrow range of behaviors and lifestyles

5. Theoretical Roots of Ideological Analysis
Marxist origins
Ideology as a powerful mechanism of social control whereby members of the ruling class imposed their worldview
Gramsci’s view of ideology
Power can be wielded at the level of culture or ideology
Hegemony: control of consensus; promotion of dominant, taken-for-granted ideologies
Mass media are one of the principal sites where the cultural leadership, the work of hegemony, is exercised

6. News Media and the Limit of Debate
News media can be ideological
“The news supports the social order of public, business, and professional, upper-middle-class, middle-aged, and white male sectors of society In short, when all other things are equal, the news pays most attention to and upholds the actions of elite individuals and elite institutions” (Gans, 1979)

7. Ideology in News How does ideology manifest in news?
Limited viewpoints
a small group of analysts are regular commentators and news sources
Most news favors the insiders’ (government, establishment) view
“Official” news

8. Economic News as Ideological Construct
Ideologies present in mainstream economic news
Focus on the activities and interests of investors and businesses
“pro-business” as being normal
“pro-labor” as being deviant
Economic crisis coverage
Top-down perspective (government and businesses)

9. Movies, Military, & Masculinity
Action-Adventure films
Ideology of polarity (us vs. them)
Ideology of the rugged individual
Ideology of the American Dream
Ideology of manhood
Vietnam films and war films today
Ideological projects to overcome the Vietnam syndrome

10. ‘Masculinity’

11. ‘Femininity’

12. Ideology and Popular TV
Images of family
Dominantly white, upper middle class, happy, secure
Changed toward family conflict and struggle in the 1970s
Work family programs
The new momism
The old, “perfect mother” image resurrected
Celebrity motherhood
“Set of ideas, norms, and practices, most frequently and powerfully represented in the media, that seem on the surface to celebrate motherhood, but which in reality promulgate standards of perfection that are beyond our reach.”

13. Advertising and Consumer Culture
Today’s advertising
celebrates and takes for granted the consumer–capitalist organization of society
normalizes middle-class or upper-middle-class lifestyle
promotes a worldview that stresses the individual and the realm of private life, ignoring collective values

14. Historical Development of Advertising
Selling consumerism in the early 20th century
Selling a new way of American life
Ads were a tool of social integration
Erasing differences among people

15. Advertising and Globalization
Ads promote an American way of life
Freedom and individuality equated with consumer choice
Cultural imperialism?
Use of foreigners in American ads
As “the others”
Unequal relationship between Americans and Foreigners
As exotic
Endorses certain products
As normal
Used in global business ads

16. Alternative Media and Ideologies
Media images can and sometimes do challenge this mainstream, status quo–oriented ideology by providing a critique of contemporary social organization and norms
However:
Alternatives remain on the margins
Commercialization makes it difficult to maintain a critical edge
Concern for profitability, distribution